[crote]

That only matters when the constants are nontrivial and N has a potential to get big.

Not every app is a B2C product intending to grow to billions of users. If the costs start out as near-zero and are going to grow to still be negligible at 100% market share, who cares that it's _technically_ suboptimal? Sure, you could spend expensive developer-hours trying to find a better way of doing it, but YAGNI.

[hinkley]

I just exited a B2B that discovered they invested in luxury features and the market tightened their belts by going with cheaper and simpler competitors. Their n wasn’t really that high but they sure tried their damnedest to make it cubic complexity. “Power” and “flexibility” outnumbered, “straightforward” and even “robust” but at least three to one in conversations. A lot of my favorite people saw there was no winning that conversation and noped out long before I did.

The devs voted with their feet and the customers with their wallets.